Am I a Christian?

Well, yes, but only in a co-incidental sort of way - it's not a label I pay too much attention to.

Let me explain.

I believe the stuff in my 'Bullets of truth' down at the bottom of my sidebar. I believe that God, incarnate in Jesus, took on himslef the punishment he had decreed for my rebellions agianst him, on the cross, and that this is revealed in the Scripture, together with an indicatio of how I should respond.

Having decided all this, I then take stock and look around, and find that this set of beliefs falls within a very broad set of religions collectively known as 'Christianity'. So i am a Christian.

But I also find that there are a lot of people, whose religion is fundamentally different to mine, or has only some peripheral overlap with mine, who are also called Christians, becasue the definition of 'Christianity' is so broad that almost anyone born coincidentally in Europe or America fits in.

And then, beacuase Jesus appealed for unity, i am expected to be united with this bunch of people who are really members of different religions, which just happen to have the same label attached.

And if I make noises that, well, I'm not actually the same as them, it sounds as if I am promoting schism. But i'm not - I never was anything to do with them, I just wonder how it is that the same labels came to be attached. I'm not asking for division, I'm aking for it to be recognised that I was never united to them. I'm not asking for divorce, i'm asking for annulment. There was never a valid marriage. Apart from a broad belief in Jesus - which even demons share - I'm nothing to do with them.

I have the beliefs I have stated. I have fellowship with those that share them or something reasonably similar (Although I recognise that often they will not express them in these terms). People that don't share them, are (frankly) a different religion. Please don't put me in the same basket.